The Professional Triathletes Organization (PTO) has extended and expanded its relationship with Two Circles, the UK-based sports marketing agency.
Through an agreement unveiled today, Two Circles has been put in charge of selling sponsorship rights for the T100 Triathlon World Tour, the series that launched in January as a joint venture between the PTO and World Triathlon.
The inaugural 2024 edition of this series has already been through six events, and this partnership expansion has been unveiled ahead of the season climax, which will take place in Dubai in mid-November. Legs of the tour have so far taken place in Miami, Singapore, San Francisco, London, Ibiza, and Lake Las Vegas.
The new collaboration between the two parties entails Two Circles fielding a dedicated PTO partnership sales team, led by Simon Hoppe.
The initial tie-up between the PTO and Two Circles was unveiled in June 2022, when Two Circles was charged with creating and executing a digital marketing and audience growth strategy for what was then a new property.
This new deal comes soon after the PTO and the World Triathlon governing body expanded their relationship by announcing a 12-year strategic partnership to grow the sport.
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By GlobalDataThe initial partnership term is for 12 years, running through 2036, and will include PTO becoming the sole and exclusive Official World Championship Tour of Long Distance Triathlon, anti-doping, safeguarding, and collaboration on rights management, including sponsorship and broadcast.
It also includes a framework for the PTO and World Triathlon to explore new opportunities to grow the sport together, including hosting shorter-distance events alongside the T100 Tour.
Gareth Balch, chief executive of Two Circles, said: “We were very vocal about how we leapt at the chance to work with the Professional Triathletes Organisation when we started with them a couple of years ago.
“The PTO’s progress this year has provided strong validation of the commercial offering and we believe presents a very attractive offering for non-endemic brands to connect with a highly engaged, high value, and global demographic.”
October, from a Two Circles point of view, has already seen the agency unveil a deal to acquire Kore, an intelligence platform based around fans and partnerships.
Sam Renouf, the PTO’s CEO, added: “Since our inception, we’ve been supported by industry leaders who see the untapped potential of Triathlon – partnering with Two Circles to deliver our partnership strategy is a logical extension of that approach.”
The Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final is set to take place in Dubai on November 16 and 17.
The PTO was originally formed in 2014, with the agreement of a funding deal with venture capitalist Michael Moritz in 2020 one of the main factors behind its expansion and growth in recent years.
In April, Renouf spoke to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport) around why rebranding its main property as the T100 Triathlon World Tour was necessary.